“Inspirational for everybody the way they competed and played. Obviously, it’s disappointing when you get that close and you don’t win it, but we’re certainly all proud of them. Then Thursday night, we get some hockey action. I know we’ve got some Chicago guys here, you guys might not have a playoff team, so you guys might want to watch us.”
How is Aaron Lynch progressing as far as defeating blocks and being an every-down player?
“It’s pretty good. Obviously, he wants to do a little too much within that defensive structure. We’re not going to ask him to line up in a four technique every down. That’s not his forte. We have guys that are stronger physically at the point. We are going to make sure when he gets on the field, that he uses his ability. Right now, we have to teach him the defense. He did a nice job today on our one-on-ones, but again, it’s a process for him. We are going to have to utilize his strengths in the fall.”
Can you tell how quickly Lynch and Ishaq Williams are learning and are they picking things up quickly?
“It has not been a situation where every time they are in there we say, ‘Let’s do this.’ They can run our defense and certainly they are going to be able to do it in the fall. The one thing we are asking Ishaq to do is to play a little bit faster because he is thinking too much. He wants to be right all the time and we’re just saying, ‘Go play.’ Both of those guys in the fall will be able to line up and compete, but we will only do it if they can play full speed and not have to think.”
Any new information on Michael Floyd?
“No, nothing yet.”
What did you get out of practicing outside today?
“You can stretch the field a lot further. We can do some things in our passing game and defensively, just working tracking the ball in the air. Having more space out there obviously allows us the freedom to not have to worry that every time a ball is in the air, someone is going to run into somebody. From a safety standpoint, it’s better to be outside. The game is better outside rather than inside.”
What are your priorities with these last six practices?
“What we have tried to do, more than anything else, is to develop our players’ skill levels. We’ll stay on that target because five for us is still a lot of work to get players to that next level and that is their efficiency as whatever their skill is - D-linemen, O-linemen, quarterback - this is still going to be about day-after-day working on skills and then a little bit more unit consistency. For example, today when we went live down in the red zone, we didn’t play with Harrison (Smith) and we didn’t play with Zeke (Motta). We did that to give (Jamoris) Slaughter more work, to get (Dan) McCarthy more work, and (Austin) Collinsworth. So what you will see over these next five days, we’ve got a good feeling for our top performers. Now it is building that depth within the ranks that is so important in the fall, but you don’t get the chance to do it. So these next five days, getting those guys a lot of work - Kendall Moore getting a ton of work at Mike. Manti (Te’o) took some seven-on-seven reps today. We want to develop him over the next five days where, if we wanted to play him, we certainly could in the spring game. I don’t think we will, but we want to develop that too. Individual getting those younger guys and some guys that need to be key backups, getting them work in the next five.”
You don’t think Manti will play in the Blue-Gold game?
“I don’t think so. I’m not ready to make that decision right now, but my thought is, he would not.”
Have you seen the consistent focus from Jonas Gray that you would expect?
“It’s getting better. He did a nice job running today. You have to remind him every time, it’s not muscle memory yet for him. You still have to remind him, but it is getting closer. Today, he hit a run and I thought he danced a little too much and it’s just remind him to hit that thing hard; lower your pads. He’s gotten better at it each and every day. It’s not there yet, but it’s getting close.”
What is your comfort level with your holder, snapper, and return guys on special teams?
“We have Cierre (Wood) and Theo (Riddick) taking kickoff returns right now, but I’d be hard pressed to put those two back there in the fall. There’s just not enough depth, especially with those two skill players. We can’t afford to lose either one of those guys on a kickoff return. That’s going to be an open position, but punts are different because it is such a highly skilled technique. We will take the best player back there. If it’s Theo Riddick, he’s got to do it, but for kickoff return, we are going to have to rely on some freshmen coming in and give them an opportunity.”
How about holders and snappers? Who are the candidates there?
“Well, certainly, Jordan (Cowart) is back and (Ryan) Kavanagh; both are snapping for us. We’re working (Andrew) Hendrix in as one of our holders as well. (Braxston) Cave can go in there in a pinch. So we feel right now with those three guys, that’s the rotation going into the fall. We are trying to develop another holder. Obviously, (Ben) Turk has held a lot and I think we want to get a quarterback in that mix, and Hendrix is the guy that is working at it right now.”
Is there a new timetable for a decision on Michael Floyd?
“I have not heard one word. We go to work every day. We don’t think about it. There’s going to be a time and place for that but we are all going and doing our jobs, and when it happens, it happens.”
Last week, you said that you were an educator. What lesson do you want to come out of this situation for your team and the program?
“It’s college and we want kids to make good decisions. Alcohol never seems to be a conduit for good decisions. As a football coach and somebody in college athletics, I think we all look at it the same way. When alcohol is involved, bad decisions certainly follow. We talk every day about making good decisions and educating our players how to do that. Certainly alcohol is not a good way to make good decisions.”
The depth on the defensive line seems better than last year. How does this change what you can do defensively?
“Well, certainly, it’s going to allow us to keep our guys fresh through four quarters. It’s a different energy when you have five or six guys who can do quality work. There is something about the energy that group keeps because there is great camaraderie, because you don’t have to rely on just one guy. Building depth at all the positions is absolutely crucial to us. Last year at this time, we didn’t have a quarterback and our D-line was just coming together. It’s just part of the process. We’re getting closer to developing some key plays and depth at that D-line position.”
With Michael Floyd gone, do you have guys like John Goodman stepping up as a leader?
“We picked up right at the first day of spring practice. Theo Riddick is a work horse out there; Tyler Eifert, our quarterbacks. I haven’t gone out there and said to the guys, ‘Oh goodness, we have lost our work ethic and the way we go about it.’ We have 13 seniors who have really developed in the last year, as well, in their leadership skills. So we are relying on those 13 guys to step up for us as well.”
Was this the first day of the new video system and, if so, how did it work out?
“We didn’t notice anything about it. We’ll get a chance to look at it today. I know our video people are anxious and excited to get it going and to be outside. They wanted to get working on the end zone copies. We’ll get a look at it today and see what it looks like.”
